


A Tender Mind

by missbloom



Category: Adam (2009), Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Angst, Asperger Syndrome, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-01
Updated: 2013-10-01
Packaged: 2018-01-03 00:01:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1063261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missbloom/pseuds/missbloom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam Raki, a man with Asperger Syndrome and pure empathy, is pushed over the edge for information about Garrett Jacob Hobbs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Tender Mind

**Author's Note:**

> A little something I wanted to do to see how Alana and the lot worked with Adam, along with fulfilling a fic request for the user will-grahams-agony on Tumblr.

Adam Raki was a special agent for the FBI, a job he's had on and off for three years now. Only the extremely difficult cases required his attention, Jack Crawford wanting to spare the man's already tender mind for the hard stuff, which didn't really make sense, but neither of them thought too much about it.

In the meantime, Adam worked at a fairly normal job, making circuit boards and other electrical equipment for a toy company. He liked doing that, just as he liked the FBI, but sometimes visiting crime scenes and seeing the horrific murders became too much; he liked having the quiet company of plastic and metal to fall back on to.

Alana Bloom had been Adam's shield ever since his first day. His Aspergers Syndrome sparked the psychologist's curiosity, to say the least. She made sure Jack never pushed him too hard, and so far Adam had never gotten lost or fallen over the edge.

Hannibal Lecter called Raki's other mental anomaly "pure empathy"; when Adam stepped into the mind of someone else, he could feel every single emotion running through him as strongly as if it were his own, which proved to be a real challenge, since his Aspergers blocked some of those emotions from ever being put into words.

Alana had called the mixture of the two conditions "a cocktail for disaster". Three years now, Adam had survived with the chaos in his head, but Dr. Bloom knew that his time of control was almost up.

Garrett Jacob Hobbs was Adam's first kill. Even when talking to Dr. Lecter, his psychiatrist, the fragile man could only admit very little of what he was thinking or feeling. Yes, he could tell Hannibal about the nightmares or the loss of time, but he couldn't tell him what he experienced _mentally_ during the episodes.

He could see what had happened: the man holding a knife to his daughter's throat, Adam emptying a whole clip into him just as the metal sliced open her pale skin. The man fell back against the counters, the girl's blood spurting from her neck and coating her clothes and the floor.

Adam had been alone in the room with the two, Hannibal somewhere outside, and as soon as Hobbs was down, the special agent hovered over Abigail and tried to stop the hot liquid from escaping her neck.

Two words from the dying man before Hannibal finally came inside, a mere whisper to Adam's right, "See? _See?_ "

Adam's tongue failed to tell anyone that.

Jack had been noticing Adam's increasing muteness for a while now, and one day he finally called him into his office to talk about it.

The director sat behind his large desk, hands folded neatly in front of him, "I need you to tell me what's bouncing around in that head of yours, Adam."

"I.. I've already told Dr. Lecter everything," he sat in the chair in front of Crawford, hands clamped nervously together in his lap, eyes avoiding direct contact with Jack's.

"Yes, but I need you to tell me more." You could tell he was struggling to keep his patience.

"I- I can't. You know that..."

"Would you be more open if I called in Dr. Lecter and Dr. Bloom to sit with us?"

Adam nodded, but didn't mention how that probably wouldn't change anything. What he felt in his head, all those things Hobbs had felt towards his daughter and his victims, what had happened when Adam shot him, he just couldn't get them out, no matter how hard he tried, and it frustrated him to no end.

An hour or so later the four were all sitting together, Adam directly in front of Jack with Hannibal and Alana on either side, hovering over the man like they were worried parents.

Crawford's voice was drawn out, already doubting that they would make any progress, "Alright, let's try this again. Adam, I need you to tell me about Garrett Jacob Hobbs."

The special agent instinctively turned to Dr. Lecter, expecting him to explain. Hannibal shook his head, "No, Adam. I can not speak for you on this. This is all you."

"But I don't know the answer."

"Yes you do. Think, Adam, what was Hobbs feeling when he killed those girls? When he cut his daughter's throat?" Alana and Jack exchanged a glance at Hannibal question, both of them waiting to see if Adam would finally give an answer.

"I told you, I don't know!"

"Adam," there was a firmness in Jack's tone now, "We _need_ to know. To solve this case we need to know what he was thinking, or if he was even thinking anything at all."

Adam was shaking slightly, eyes darting back and forth across the front of Jack's desk, "I- I don't know! I-"

"TELL ME, WHAT HE WAS THINKING!" Jack's big hands slammed down with a final loss of patience on the wooden surface, a boom echoing through the room.

"Jack!" Alana chimed in, just as loudly.

"You're hurting my ears!" The other three returned their attention to Adam; he was sitting hunched over in his chair, his curly hair poking through the space between his fingers as his hands clamped over the sides of his head, "Stop yelling! You're hurting my ears!" he didn't even notice that the room was quiet now, fright overwhelming his delicate system.

Alana shook her head and gave Jack a disgusted look before kneeling beside the panicked man, "Adam? Adam, it's okay now. We're done yelling." She tugged lightly on his hands, knowing that he wouldn't reject her tender and comforting touch; he lowered them slowly. "We're sorry for hurting your ears."

He was shaking furiously now, arms clamped around his middle as he remained hunched over. Alana rubbed the side of his arm, attempting to ease his distress, "We're all done here Adam. We can go now."

"Alana.."

"Jack."

"I believe," Hannibal finally spoke up, turning slowly to Jack, "We are done for the day."


End file.
